


The Black King

by setosdarkness



Series: OTP Collection - JuHaku [15]
Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Kuroshitsuji AU, M/M, demon contractor!Hakuryuu, demon!Judar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 15:09:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3072476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/setosdarkness/pseuds/setosdarkness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Judar might be a demon already contracted to Al Thamen, but that means nothing to him if it means he can form a contract with the tastiest soul he has ever seen instead. [Judar/Hakuryuu AU]</p><p>[or: Kuroshitsuji AU with a twist!]<br/>[or: the one where demon!Judar pesters Hakuryuu into forming a contract with him so he can attain revenge for the Great Fire, never mind the fact that he's actually the same demon who caused the fire in the first place]</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Black King

•••

"Young Master, it's time to wake up."

"Young Master…?"

"Young Masterrrrr… ugh this is so stupid. Hakuryuu, wake up!"

"…Shut up, Judar."

Hakuryuu frowns as he wakes to the sight of Judar hovering right above him, their noses a few centimeters away, Judar's long braid snaking on top of his flimsy blankets. He's been woken up by worse before, but that's not to say that he appreciates his apartment being broken into by a very annoying and persistent demon. Especially since Judar seems to think that he enjoys having his personal space crowded _this_ early in the morning.

"…what the hell are you doing here?" Hakuryuu ends up asking after a few minutes of silent staring. Judar tilts his head, some strands of hair escaping from his braid. He's so unfairly beautiful but Hakuryuu has long learned to just deal with it, thinking that it's only because demons like him need to convince people _somehow_ to trust them into forming contracts that they won't breach. Hakuryuu's honestly not sure how people can be duped into selling their souls in exchange for obtaining a demon's power, but well, it surely isn't just because of humanity's greed. If they're greedy for more power, shouldn't they just do their best to climb out of their own hells and do their best to get power using their own way?

…but then again, Hakuryuu believes that less and less as the years pass by. It's been almost ten years since the Great Fire and he's still nowhere near obtaining the sort of power that can grant him superiority over that witch.

"I was watching you sleep!" Judar admits brightly, just like yesterday, the other day, every day. It might because he isn't a human to begin with that he doesn't possess humanity's common sense to not just blurt out their admittance of their wrongdoings. Or it's probably because he doesn't even see his barging into Hakuryuu's abode uninvited as something wrong to begin with. "You were tossing and turning as always, but you calmed down pretty much when I arrived."

Judar has always told him that – something that Hakuryuu can't dispute, yet can't prove either. He does remember being plagued by nightmares earlier, just like every single night, but he also does wake up with some level of peace that couldn't be accomplished if he spent the entire night remembering his own past and ruing his own powerlessness.

"You should stop." Hakuryuu always replies with that and even with his eyes blinded and his ears deafened, he's able to envision and hear Judar's next words, without fail.

"…well, if you want to order me around, just make a contract with me, Hakuryuu~"

And almost like an endless cycle, Hakuryuu rejects him, without fail.

"I'll never do that, Judar."

(…though Hakuryuu believes that less and less as time goes by.)

••• **The Black King**

Ren Hakuryuu might never have been the main heir to the Kou Industries, but as the third son of the company president, his future would have been bright. He would have spent his life fulfilling both whatever fancy that he wanted while also uplifting the honor of being part of the Kou Industries – or the Kou Empire as their critics and supporters alike have dubbed their family and the company they had formed.

But he had learned that the world has never been fair – because just as his father had called upon the family for an early celebration of giving a new international branch to his eldest brother's control, a great fire had intruded upon their gathering and took the lives of most of his family. It was a good thing that his sister had been late for the party, which spared her from their fate, but for the rest—

According to the eyewitnesses – who were eventually shut out of investigations due to the erratic and occultish nature of their testimonies – they had spotted a figure with long braided hair on top of the skyscraper that fateful night, a figure that had summoned forks of lightning that descended to the building and burnt the entire establishment in one go.

Hakuryuu was the only one who had managed to survive the onslaught, no thanks to the sacrifice done by his brothers who had bathed him in their own blood to keep him from being burnt completely. Due to the traumatic nature of the experience, Hakuryuu didn't remember the sequence of following events too well, but his next memory led him crawling to the ground floor, shards of glass from the shattered windows on his hands and knee. He then remembered looking up in horror at that woman's grotesque smile as she obviously delighted in seeing the destruction that she had obviously caused.

She looked at him, eyes blackened by the burning night, and then past his pitiful form.

Hakuryuu remembered seeing a floating man clad in black, wrapped in black, a man that's definitely not a man when it had looked at him with glowing red eyes.

He—

•••

"—told you, right?"

Hakuryuu snaps his eyes open, breathing wildly as he frantically gropes underneath his pillow for the dagger that he keeps hidden for emergencies. He swings with _intent_ , his blade stopped short by something solid— _oh_.

Droplets of blood land on his thigh, shorts ridden up due to yet another violent nightmare.

His eyes focus on the _demon_ floating in front of him, just like always. He shouldn't sigh in relief upon seeing the creature that's plagued his life continuously. He shouldn't, so he doesn't, but it doesn't erase the fact that his first impulse aside from trying to stab him is to be relieved that it's at least a familiar demon, not something that's out of his control. Or at least, that's the most logical explanation for the relief that floods him from his toes up.

"…shut up, Judar."

"Hey! You don't even know what I was saying!"

"It's probably something unimportant," Hakuryuu replies almost teasingly, feeling his rapid heartbeat slowly return to a more manageable rate. He always has nightmares, but it's becoming rarer for him to wake up like this—panting and steeped in despair, just like that fateful day. He wonders if Judar just arrived, if his demonic aura forcibly dragged Hakuryuu out of his nightmare. But then again, the demon in his nightmare and the demon in front of him are one and the same, after all.

"Don't be too cheeky, Hakuryuu," the other tells him with a warning tone, but it also sounds too playful to be taken seriously.

It's strange, because he knows firsthand just how terrifying Judar's power truly is. He's experienced the other's magic and has seen him dance around like a savage beast that waltzes around with the intent to turn an entire crowd of people into a one-man battlefield. It's strange, because he's been through a _lot_ and now it almost feels like everything is just passing by like a silent stream of water flowing to an undisturbed spring.

"…What were you saying then?" He humors Judar as he lets the other lick the demonic blood off his dagger. Hakuryuu stares intently as the wound closes up right in front of his watchful eyes. Hakuryuu even lets Judar place two fingers on his upper right thigh, swiping at the crimson droplets that have landed there. Judar's fingers linger on his skin, fingertips that are smooth despite the countless lives that have perished by them—or maybe it's those lives that make his skin almost heavenly to the touch.

"…Mmm, I was saying that as I had previously told you, many, many, many times," Judar grins at him almost fondly as he says this, drifting towards his left side and rubbing at the stub that is left of his arm. Judar stretches his arm across his shoulders, easily doing a one-armed hug and forcing Hakuryuu to be cuddled against him. This is one of Judar's most favorite positions whenever he invades Hakuryuu's privacy, ever since he has learned that Hakuryuu dislikes wearing his prosthetic metal limb when he goes to bed. "…You should just form a contract with me so I can also get rid of your nightmares."

Hakuryuu rolls his eyes. " _You_ are in my nightmares."

"I _should_ be!" Judar cries out, sounding scandalized at the thought that there's a remote possibility that he's not guest-starring in the nightmares of the person whose life he had ruined just because he's under the contract of a terrorist organization who intends to take control of the world.

"How would you get rid of my nightmares then?"

Hakuryuu bites his lip as he belatedly realizes that he doesn't outright say that he'd like to get rid of Judar. He knows it's futile to hope that Judar hasn't noticed that slip, because the demon is particularly good at sniffing weaknesses like this. Also, Judar's already squeezing him too tight – his default reaction whenever he hears something that pleases him.

"Ahaha, that's cheating, Hakuryuu! I won't tell you until you agree to be _mine_!"

"…I thought you just wanted me to form a contract with you."

"That's the same thing!"

Hakuryuu shivers as Judar clings tighter to him. He blames the other's corpse-like coldness, though the parts where they touch practically burns – just one of the things that make Judar so irritating. "So by that logic… that means that Gyokuen is also yours?"

"Ew, how can you even say that, Hakuryuu??? That's so blegh!"

Hakuryuu smiles wryly despite the sudden spike of his heartbeat from the other's not-that-surprising words.

It's probably because Judar isn't a human being that he doesn't even understand the point behind Hakuryuu's words.

Thought it's not like it matters.

It's not like there would even come a time when Hakuryuu will form a contract with Judar, much less _belong to him_.

(…though Hakuryuu believes that less and less as time goes by.)

•••

Hakuryuu's not sure if this is really his fate – to be used and battered by other people who deserved to be erased from this world. He thought—well, he _thought_ that he could finally have an edge over that witch, but it turns out that trying to outwit and use someone from the underground isn't the best choice as they're beings much worse than Hakuryuu and had no qualms about dirtying their hands with the blood of innocents.

The group had promised to lend him their resources for summoning a _death god_ , but that is apparently only a lie, as they don't even have connections to the supernatural. As per Hakuryuu's research, only death gods and angels possess power that rival that of a demon's—so he had _hoped_ —well.

It's apparently useless to hope in this kind of world.

"S'rry, kid," their leader tells him without an ounce of apology in his breath, "gotta do what we need t'do to live, y'know?"

Hakuryuu swallows down his retort of what they're doing is hardly necessary for living. Surviving on the backs of other people's suffering—that's hardly what a human being should do. But then, what do principles even matter in this world – this world that allows creatures like demons roam free, while angels just unflinchingly watch over their cursed lives, while death gods only descend when large-scale calamities happen? His research only made him see this world more clearly for what it truly is: cruel and terribly unfair.

Even his death here—in an abandoned warehouse that has probably served as dumping ground for countless other fools like him, without even getting a chance at realizing his family's original goal of making sure everyone lives smiling, without even getting a chance to catch a glimpse of his sister again, without even getting a chance to make that witch taste even just a drop of humiliation that he had suffered ever since that day—even his death here is just part of the world's cruelty.

Hakuryuu bites his lip as he watches the leader of the group who betrayed him with false knowledge approach his bound form. His vision is blurred, partially because of the cut just above his right eyebrow that's making blood flow like unwanted tears, but also because his left eye is swollen from one well-aimed punch earlier. Even though the remains of his left arm didn't get bound by the thick ropes that they used to tie him up like a wild animal about to be butchered, with the lengthier metal prosthetic off to the floor, broken beyond repair, it's still useless.

They're going to cut him up, probably sell his organs to the black market. He can't quite imagine what kind of use will they have for his body parts, but there are a lot of different evils of this world – evils that the witch and her followers don't have qualms utilizing in order to fulfill their goal. He's different from them—but maybe that's why he has always failed before, that's why he's failing right now. He's going to die all alone in this filthy dump, abandoned by his family, by his friends, by his fate.

"You don't have to sound _so_ angry, Hakuryuu~"

An uninvited voice floats from right above them.

Hakuryuu's neck is held in place by the ropes so he can't quite look up, but even with his impaired eyesight, he can see the men in front of him tense in horror. They look as though a bucket of innards and blood have been poured over them. Hakuryuu can see lines of twisting shadows envelop the warehouse, blurred figures of hands, tentacles and are those eyeballs? It's unmistakably the visible aura of a demon – a grotesque sight that Hakuryuu has seen _thrice_ now. He idly wonders if it's due to spending years being pestered by Judar that he doesn't even flinch at the sight of those writhing shadows that just seem so _hungry_ for more chaos, for more violence, for more _darkness_.

And—

"I'm not even saying anything," he protests croakily, his voice roughened by the hours of abuse he has endured. While this isn't the first time he has been captured and beaten up and in the verge of death, his body isn't invincible and still succumbs to the physical effects of being roughed up. The last time he has spoken was ten hours ago when he arrived here, pouch of silver in his hands, expecting a tome to summon death gods in return for his efforts. He didn't want to let a sound out after that, because he doesn't want to give his betrayers the pleasure of seeing him break down or hear him plea for his wretched life.

"Oh?" Judar's eyes always glow eerily scarlet whenever he summons his shadows from hell. Hakuryuu's only seen them glow that unearthly red three times, but the sight of them has been burned quite literally into his eyes. Even if he doesn't see the other demon, he just _knows_ that he's here, looking down at them with that infuriating grin. "But you were calling for me so _angrily_ , you know?"

Hakuryuu's cheeks burn, part with shame and part with incredulity. True, having Judar here has crossed his mind during the ten hours of torture for more silver and interrogating about his connection to the powerful Kou Empire that could probably lead his betrayers to more money. True, the memory of Judar _once again_ intruding upon the dirty businesses of humans who were in the process of cutting Hakuryuu up and selling him to the underground markets has crossed his mind. But he didn't _call_ for him.

…Did he?

"I did _no_ such thing."

Judar must have done something to the men inside this warehouse, because they're just standing there, frozen. Or maybe they're just overwhelmed by the other's accompanying aura – or maybe they're just aghast at the other's floating about while wearing such unfashionable clothes. "Maa, maa, don't worry about it so much~ it's not like I was doing anything important anyway~"

"I just said that I did not call for you."

Hakuryuu still can't see Judar, but he can just _taste_ the other's smirk as he replies: "…That's what you think, Hakuryuu."

He's not sure what to say to that, plus his throat is already protesting against the strain of speech after hours of being deprived of water and after hits to his abdomen and throat. It's just as well that the other men surrounding them have finally regained some semblance of their wits.

"W-W-What are you talking about?!" The leader asks with voice trembling so much it's only rivaled by how his knees are knocking together in terror. "D-D-D-D-Don't just ignore us!"

The warehouse's temperature drops by a few degrees. Hakuryuu's _lungs_ feel cold with each shallow breath he takes.

Judar finally enters his range of vision, eyes glowing as expected, a deranged expression on his face.

Despite looking positively demonic, his fingers are gentle when they loosen the rope around Hakuryuu's neck, motion even gentler when they sweep upwards to his chin, lightly tracing the cut from Hakuryuu's right cheek up to his eye. Judar's hands then travel all over his face, tracing the uneven line of his scars from the Great Fire, pressing almost curiously at the new cuts that he has earned during this failure of an expedition, spreading the blood from his wounds to rest of his face.

It almost reminds Hakuryuu of that time when his brothers have poured their blood onto him and bathed him in it.

He's being marked by his own blood this time.

Judar's expression still looks incredibly unhinged, a strange sort of anger burning inside his eyes. Hakuryuu shivers as the fingers prod at his lips, pressing at them insistently with a pressure that almost feels deadly. Hakuryuu glares at Judar for his actions, but he parts his lips a little, a bit curious at what the other is doing. Judar's thumbs immediately press against his upper canines, before delving deeper and pressing against the inside of his cheeks. Hakuryuu glares harder when he feels his blood settle on his tongue.

"W-W-W-W-What the hell are you doing?!"

Hakuryuu wants to roll his eyes, but he doesn't want to risk cutting off the eye contact between him and Judar. Quite honestly, he's not very sure of what Judar is doing too, but he'd think that the men around them would be more self-preserving – Judar is obviously out of this world and they're just weak and useless against him. He wonders if this is humanity's sin of increasing their self-worth in the face of an overwhelming power. Did they think they can escape here unscathed?

"…I loved hearing your angry voice earlier, Hakuryuu." Judar leans in close and presses his fingers harder against his opened mouth. It's disgusting: the way his saliva and blood mix, the way Judar is looking at him like he's the only important thing in this whole world, the way he wouldn't care if the entire world is watching this right now. It's disgusting: how he doesn't dislike _this_.

When they're close enough for their foreheads to touch, Hakuryuu feels his skin _burn_ , like there's smoldering iron pressed against his body, marking him more painfully than the way the Great Fire has licked its way into permanence into his skin.

"…but I don't like that these pigs are the ones who caused it."

Judar moves away and the fingers leave his mouth, a trail of red linking them. Judar brings his fingers to his own lips, a mockery of a romantic kiss. Judar even licks the blood off there, eyes glowing even more eerily with the motion.

Hakuryuu doesn't break eye contact even when he feels embarrassment at how shameless the demon is.

Despite how Judar has unfailingly pestered him day and night for the past ten years, despite how much Judar has invaded his personal space and has intruded into his skin with his hands, despite all of the touches that have been seared into his memory for a very long time – this is the closest that Judar has come into kissing him.

And it _burns_.

"…ha, I'll kiss you all you like later, Hakuryuu." Judar says simply, promising him that and more. Hakuryuu wants to retort about how he's not going to make a _contract_ with Judar for a stupid, measly kiss. But Judar's eyes are now narrowed to the side, just as he turns around to address the foolishly brave men that still have not escaped from the warehouse.

"Hey, how do you all want to die?" Judar asks them carelessly, waving his hands now free of Hakuryuu's blood. "Better make it quick, because I'm gonna be busy with my _master_."

Hakuryuu frowns at the other's confidence that he'll form a contract with him.

He won't.

(…though Hakuryuu has probably never believed that to begin with.)

•••  
•••  
•••

> < When he was first summoned by that fucking old hag to this world, he wasn't particularly interested in working for humans.
> 
> True, demons like him needed to gorge themselves upon human souls so they could continue existing, but it's not like forming a contract was _necessary_. Humans were eternally foolish, after all, so they easily plunged themselves into the darkness even without a demon's _guidance_. All he needed to do – all a demon needed to do, really – in order to maintain their existence was to basically hang around in the human world that had at least one human and before the day ended, they could have received their fill.
> 
> Contracts were created and devised to amuse themselves in their long, boring existence. It was a big plus that most humans greedily jumped on chances of assumed control over creatures that are far superior to them. The way they had their hopes, fueled by their own sinful feelings, crushed by those same feelings and overconfidence, all guided by a demonic creature they trusted against all common sense… it made their filthy souls a little bit more palatable.
> 
> …so yes, when he was summoned by the fucking old hag, he wasn't particularly interested in working for these humans. It was only a contract that would be as fleeting as yawning for someone like him, but it was still time lost. Then again, it wasn't like he was doing anything terribly important then. So he agreed to work for the fucking old hag and her creepy group of masked men. They were probably ugly as fuck, and he already regretted his whimsical decision to be summoned.
> 
> But then, when the fucking old hag asked him to burn down the tallest skyscraper in the entire continent, promised him the souls of the thousands of people inside the tower, including her own husband and sons… he started to think that maybe it wasn't going to be as boring as he feared. He doubted he'd enjoy the taste of this hag's soul, because her _evil_ has already been purified so much and she had embraced it so fully that it was too thick and so one-note.
> 
> …but then, he had spotted one soul in the middle of thousands, in the middle of the entire world, a soul that sparked so brightly amidst all the darkness. He was so _pure_ that it would be infinitely more interesting trying to watch that pure soul be tainted undeniably by all of this world's sins.
> 
> He reasoned that the hag only ordered him to burn down the entire skyscraper, but she had neglected to specify that every single person inside _must_ die. So he took it upon himself to whisk the pure soul to relative safety and to infinite despair, by bringing him in front of the culprit for his ruined future.
> 
> He sensed the hag's dissatisfaction with his actions, but he didn't give two shits about her. True, she was powerful in her own way and she promised and provided so many souls for him to devour at his leisure, but he's a _demon_. Of course, he'd want something _more_. And the pure soul in-between them was going to be so much more than her. He could sense it absolute evil in that one – the kind of evil that desperately still wanted to be good and wanted logic and reason in this unfair world.
> 
> He was summoned to form a contract with the fucking old hag, but he was a _demon_.
> 
> Little things such as breached contracts mattered not.
> 
> Especially since he could obtain something much better than that. >
> 
> < …though what that something 'better' was, Judar was actually not completely sure of yet at that time. >

•••  
•••  
•••

"Young Master, it's time to wake up."

"Young Master…?"

"Young Masterrrrr… ugh this is so stupid. Hakuryuu, wake up, come oooon, I'm bored, stop ignoring me!"

"…Shut up, Judar."

Hakuryuu sighs in resignation as he wakes up yet again to the sight of Judar hovering right above him, their noses bumping together and their foreheads pressed together. He's been woken up by much worse before, but he supposes that there's no helping it that the demon above him just has no concept of propriety. Judar seems to think that just because he came in to his rescue like a screwed-up knight, that just because of that, Hakuryuu will already give in to him.

"…what the hell are you doing?" Hakuryuu ends up asking quietly, a strange thrill going through his bandaged body as their lips don't touch. Judar shifts a little, his eyes burning red, his skin smooth against his scarred face, his loose hair unraveled from his braid and effectively forming a curtain all over the two of them. It's a beautiful prison that Hakuryuu knows won't be possible without some magic in play – but Judar looks so _content_ with this that it's almost hard to imagine he's a demon, that it's almost hard for Hakuryuu to want to deny him.

 Almost.

…Hakuryuu's not sure how long can he resist this demon who has effectively wormed his way into his insides.

"I was watching you sleep!" Judar admits as brightly as always, in sharp contrast to the darkness that follows him everywhere. Hakuryuu doesn't waste time scolding him for intruding on his personal space nor does he waste time asking the other to very polite get the hell out. After all, it doesn't seem like they're back at Hakuryuu's apartment, judging from the increased softness of the mattress underneath his back. "It was pretty boring at first, but you made such cute expressions when I poked around you, so it became really fun!"

"You should stop." Hakuryuu always says that. He holds his breath as he waits for Judar to reply with his usual words.

Judar smirks at him, knowing that he knows about their routine. "…Well, if you want to order me around, just make a contract with me, Hakuryuu~"

Today marks the tenth year of Hakuryuu's powerlessness against this cruel world.

It's a good time to do something different.

"…Weren't you supposed to kiss me first?"

Hakuryuu's not sure how well did his forced innocence translate into his words, but he doesn't have a lot of time to ponder about that, since Judar has all but pounced on him, just keeping his body slightly afloat so he doesn't crush Hakuryuu's still-healing ribs completely.

With a hair's breadth separating theirs lips, Judar laughingly tells him: "You sure drive a hard bargain, but your wish is my command, _my lord_."

Hakuryuu's about to open his mouth to retort about how he's not going to make a contract with Judar _just_ for a stupid kiss that's filled with a decade's worth of enthusiasm.

(…though Hakuryuu has probably never believed that to begin with.)

••• **end?/to be continued?**

**Author's Note:**

> …This story is technically finished, but also not? There are still some plot points that can be expanded on, but I guess I can just make a sequel to this one? Or maybe some drabbles about bocchan!Hakuryuu ordering demon-butler!Judar around.


End file.
